[968Z]

The PO replaced the original system of the '94 cab with a Kenwood deck and 6-disc changer in the trunk. It has never has very good sound, despite the price the PO paid for the system (I have the receipt). I am beginning to wonder whether the system was even installed correctly in the first place. In particular, the rear side panel speakers have very little bass or "loudness" to them, especially when faded to the back speakers only. The car only had the stock cab speaker setup to begin with. I'm not looking to rock out the world to Motley Crue, just better overall sound with what's already there. Any suggestions as to what to to look for?

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[Darryl]

Sounds like you may have a phase problem with one or both of the rear speakers. Try moving the balance all the way right or all the way left. If you have full bass when panned full one side, but it sounds "hollow" when in the middle, + and - were connected backwards. That's the easiest solution for thin sound, but if everything is connected properly, then it may be something else altogether and we'll likely need more info in order to help.



There isn't much bass in the rear cab speakers to begin with. Checkout some of the threads on here about various subwoofer solutions for the cabs.



- Darryl

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[PorscheDude]

Darryl, thats a good suggestion and easy to check.



I would install component speaker in the stock locations. A decent set can be had for under $100. You should have enough power in you head unit to power them.



Here is how I had my stereo at one point.

http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtop...+stereo+install

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[flash]

there are some things you can do to help



crutchfield sells some foam enclosures for the 4x6 speakers - they make a big difference (i think i even have another set of them around here i planned to sell with the yamahas) - you need to use the slim ones, not the standards



you can swap out the front speakers to the infinity reference 512i - works nicely - i've been running them for a long time, powereed only by the deck



of course, i wanted more - i finally found the time to work on the system and upgrade it again



it just happens that i have been working on this all day today - after i got back from my alignment for the new suspension (yes, i did it again), i got to work on the system and just installed my new drivers in my sub - additional amp going in later tonight - also just installed 2 5.25" woofers to replace the infinity 512i speakers



the big project though was working on the boxed OEM rear speakers - the components are actually pretty good - big magnet 4" woofer - the problem was the box and the power driving them - i used a bunch of dynamat extreme on the box, removed the internal amp, and installed a cap on the tweeter - better already



monday or tuesday i'm installing a new 4 channel amp for the main speakers



that should do it

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[tloof]

Flash,



What brand speakers & model # did you finally use for the replacement 5 1/4 woofers, and are you still using the OEM Nokia front tweeter and 3 1/2" Nokia midrange speakers in conjunction with them? (This is assuming you are working on the 2nd 968 you just got that has the 10 speaker M490 system in it) Also, what size Cap did you use in the rear speaker box on the stock Nokia tweeter?



Note that the rear midrange speaker actually has a smaller 3 1/2" cone size vs the 4" as you said they were. If a new 1/8" aluminum top cover plate were to be made an aftermarket component 4" woofer with 1" tweeter could be mounted on it and still fit within the enclosure from my measurements (the mounting screw pattern of the 3 1/2" Nokia speaker is within 1/32" of the same dimensions as a standard 4" speaker, so only the hole for the cone size is all that needs to be enlarged slightly). I did buy a 4" component Audiobahn system to do just that, but the damn 4" Audiobahn speakers were actually even larger than 4" (the cone size was an actual 4 1/2" in size...the largest damn 4" speakers I've ever seen) so they won't fit in the stock enclosure. I also got an Audiobahn 5 1/4" component system as for the front, and they do fit just fine since they are only an actual 5 1/8" cone size and also have the exact same mounting screw pattern as the stock 5" Nokia's (why the hell Audiobahn makes the 4" versions larger than 4" but the 5 1/4" versions smaller than 5 1/4" is a mystery to me...no consistency at all).



Since I am now adding a twin 10" speaker subwoofer system with dedicated subwoofer amp, I am considering just sticking with using all of the stock Nokia speakers for both the front & rear powered by my Panasonic 70W/channel (31W RMS) radio. The Audiobahn's have composite speaker cones that probably would require a separate higher powered amp vs the paper cones that the stock Nokia's have. It would appear that there is NO good choice for an upgrade that can replace all of the stock speakers on the M490 type 10 speaker system???

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[flash]

ok - no - not the 2nd car - this is a complete re-do of the 1st car



not using a mid at all - cabin not designed well for mids - i'd delete them if i had them - not a fan of 3-way systems anyway (as is the case with most audio engineers i know) - too messy to tune without going to separate amps for each speaker and using variable crossovers



this was one where you had to spend money to get it right - the cheapie stuff just doesn't work well enough to get everything i wanted out of it - i fought it for a long time, but finally caved in to more amps and better speakers - the other stuff was "OK", but never really good enough at 80mph with the top down



the 5.25" got a pair of kenwood 5.25" woofers from a 2-way separate set - the enclosures got sealed - while the spec is much lower, they are good down to about 50, though i am cutting them off at 63 with a 6db/oct slope



i am using the crossover that came with the kenwoods and using factory tweeters up front



the boxed enclosures in the rear from the 490 upgrade got torn apart, lined with dynamat extreme, the internal amp discarded, and used the factory 4" woofer and 1" tweeter - they go down to about 60, but i am cutting those off at 100hz with a 6db/oct slope - very nice now, but may play with tweeter caps some more - listening to it by itself, i have a hole in the upper mids in the rear that i think i can fill a bit better with a different cap in the first order crossover - the 4 ohm 4" doesn't really go high enough, and i have the 8 ohm tweeter cut off too high - i did it on purpose though, so as not to have a bunch of 3.1k screaming in my ear, but i may have gone a touch too far - not sure yet - when in conjunction with everything else, it works very well



the woofers were a real improvement - the 8" Punch 1s were not enough - they only went down to 50hz - neither was the 65/ch amp driving them - now i am running 200/ch at .05 THD into a pair of 4 ohm single coil JL Audio 8" drivers that go a LOT lower - MUCH better - really bumps now



the new 4 channel amp arrives tomorrow so that i can take the 4 channels off of the deck and onto the amp, tripling the power output - the 50 w/ch peak (22 RMS) just was not nearly enough to drive any bottom out of the 5.25"



the secret to all of this though was the tuning - the EQ and the time alignment really made the system work

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[tloof]

So how did you seal the front 5 1/4" enclosure? (did you add one of those Crutchfield baffles behind the speaker itself?)



By the way, isn't the rear tweeter a 4 ohm speaker and not an 8 ohm? (it's a 4 ohm tweeter in my rear M490 enclosures). I guess I'm a bit confused, did you also add a crossover on the rear set of speakers like you did on the front set, or are you just using a Cap between the midrange & tweeter? (if so what is the Cap size rating that you are planning to change to that will improve the sound?) I was hoping to just add a Cap on my rear speakers after eliminating the internal amp out of the enclosures!



Since I do already have a 3 speaker front system with the stock Porsche supplied 3-way crossover, wouldn't that be satisfactory to retain since Porsche already tuned it for the Cab? I was thinking of retaining the stock Nokia tweeter & 3 1/2" midrange speakers, but upgrade the 5 1/4" woofers to either the Audiobahn versions I have already bought, or perhaps the Kenwood's like you have if they would work better with the 31W RMS/ch that my stereo deck can output (and of course run them all thru the stock Porsche 3-way crossover).

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[flash]

dynamat extreme to "seal" the enclosure



mine is an 8 ohm



once again - there is no midrange speaker anywhere in the car - there are 2 subwoofers - 4 woofers and 4 tweeters



cap is on tweeter



the kenwoods did require modification to the "enclosure" - this required a dremel tool, snips, a file, and a lot of patience, as well as silicone glue



i am not fond of the porsche crossovers i've heard so far, but to be fair, i've only heard them hooked up to the factory speakers with factory power - the points are odd, and the ohm load is weird, so i'm not sure how good that is going to sound - we've had that conversation though - try it and see - the speakers are cheap and you won't lose much if it doesn't work

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[skierwilks]

Flash & TLoof



I recently acquired a 968 Cab with the M490 sound system - suffice it to say it sounds terrible and needs some help. I've spent some time reading through the forums here and found all the info very useful!



Here's my goal:

1) Retain the head unit - I like the look of it... call me crazy

2) Replace the front 6 speakers as follows: JL 5.25" component speakers w/1" tweeters, retain the PO 4" Crystal mids and the existing in-door Porsche crossover

3) Replace the rear box speakers... somehow

4) Install an Alpine 4+1 channel amp to power the front 6, back speakers, and a 10" JL sub



I've got some experience with car stereo installs, so I'm not a total newbie here. But none were as complicated as this! That said I'm still struggling to figure out three things:



1) What is the best solution to upgrade the rear M490 stock speakers? I've read one of flash's posts that (if I understood correctly) said you could simply wire the rear channel speaker leads, disconnect power to the internal amp, and somehow the system "magically" bypasses the internal amp but still hits the crossover and allows the stock speakers to work in the box enclosures. Sad to say, I tried that (both on my home stereo and through the amp in the car) and it didn't work. I was connecting the speaker terminals to just posts 3 and 4 on the box, and got nothing. Is there a way to easily disconnect the amp and still use the stock component system? Are there decent speakers that readily fit into the enclosures? Do they need to be "slim" or would JL 4" coaxial speakers do the trick?

2) Where is the best place for the amp? The amp is rather large, but for now I've been able to build a "plate" from plastic to stick on top of the spare tire under the trunk mat. It fits fine, but I'm wondering if there are other "better" ideas people have (pics welcomed!)

3) Where is the best place to put a sub? I purchased a basic floor-model box with a 10" JL woofer. Sound is just find for what I'm looking for, but it looks pretty crummy sitting in the middle of the trunk. I've debated replacing the rear deck, but am worried about de-valuing the car.



Any advice on these points is greatly appreciated. Awesome site here!

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